diff --git a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
index c946b697..f14b8b5d 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/accounts.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import { type AppController } from '@/app.ts';
 import { Conf } from '@/config.ts';
 import { getAuthor, getFollowedPubkeys } from '@/queries.ts';
 import { booleanParamSchema, fileSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
-import { getPubkeysBySearch } from '@/controllers/api/search.ts';
 import { Storages } from '@/storages.ts';
 import { uploadFile } from '@/utils/upload.ts';
 import { nostrNow } from '@/utils.ts';
@@ -19,6 +18,7 @@ import { renderReblog, renderStatus } from '@/views/mastodon/statuses.ts';
 import { hydrateEvents } from '@/storages/hydrate.ts';
 import { bech32ToPubkey } from '@/utils.ts';
 import { addTag, deleteTag, findReplyTag, getTagSet } from '@/utils/tags.ts';
+import { getPubkeysBySearch } from '@/utils/search.ts';
 
 const usernameSchema = z
   .string().min(1).max(30)
diff --git a/src/controllers/api/search.ts b/src/controllers/api/search.ts
index 01fb6665..05d42044 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/search.ts
+++ b/src/controllers/api/search.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 import { NostrEvent, NostrFilter, NSchema as n } from '@nostrify/nostrify';
 import { nip19 } from 'nostr-tools';
-import { Kysely, sql } from 'kysely';
 import { z } from 'zod';
 
 import { AppController } from '@/app.ts';
-import { DittoTables } from '@/db/DittoTables.ts';
 import { booleanParamSchema } from '@/schema.ts';
 import { Storages } from '@/storages.ts';
 import { hydrateEvents } from '@/storages/hydrate.ts';
@@ -12,6 +10,7 @@ import { extractIdentifier, lookupPubkey } from '@/utils/lookup.ts';
 import { nip05Cache } from '@/utils/nip05.ts';
 import { accountFromPubkey, renderAccount } from '@/views/mastodon/accounts.ts';
 import { renderStatus } from '@/views/mastodon/statuses.ts';
+import { getPubkeysBySearch } from '@/utils/search.ts';
 
 const searchQuerySchema = z.object({
   q: z.string().transform(decodeURIComponent),
@@ -194,16 +193,4 @@ async function getLookupFilters({ q, type, resolve }: SearchQuery, signal: Abort
   return [];
 }
 
-/** Get pubkeys whose name and NIP-05 is similar to 'q' */
-async function getPubkeysBySearch(kysely: Kysely<DittoTables>, { q, limit }: Pick<SearchQuery, 'q' | 'limit'>) {
-  const pubkeys = (await sql<{ pubkey: string }>`
-        SELECT *, word_similarity(${q}, search) AS sml
-        FROM author_search
-        WHERE ${q} % search
-        ORDER BY sml DESC, search LIMIT ${limit}
-      `.execute(kysely)).rows.map(({ pubkey }) => pubkey);
-
-  return pubkeys;
-}
-
-export { getPubkeysBySearch, searchController };
+export { searchController };
diff --git a/src/controllers/api/search.test.ts b/src/utils/search.test.ts
similarity index 92%
rename from src/controllers/api/search.test.ts
rename to src/utils/search.test.ts
index 2c5e91bd..a67c0662 100644
--- a/src/controllers/api/search.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/search.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { assertEquals } from '@std/assert';
 
 import { createTestDB } from '@/test.ts';
-import { getPubkeysBySearch } from '@/controllers/api/search.ts';
+import { getPubkeysBySearch } from '@/utils/search.ts';
 
 Deno.test('fuzzy search works', async () => {
   await using db = await createTestDB();
diff --git a/src/utils/search.ts b/src/utils/search.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..460c2525
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/search.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { Kysely, sql } from 'kysely';
+
+import { DittoTables } from '@/db/DittoTables.ts';
+
+/** Get pubkeys whose name and NIP-05 is similar to 'q' */
+export async function getPubkeysBySearch(kysely: Kysely<DittoTables>, opts: { q: string; limit: number }) {
+  const { q, limit } = opts;
+  const pubkeys = (await sql<{ pubkey: string }>`
+        SELECT *, word_similarity(${q}, search) AS sml
+        FROM author_search
+        WHERE ${q} % search
+        ORDER BY sml DESC, search LIMIT ${limit}
+      `.execute(kysely)).rows.map(({ pubkey }) => pubkey);
+
+  return pubkeys;
+}